Original Six: Bruins' top playoff heartbreakers

Perhaps no team in the National Hockey League rips its
fans’ hearts out with unforgettably gut-wrenching postseason
exits as frequently as the Boston Bruins. Year after year, the
Black and Gold seem to find new ways to crush the souls of their
loyal supporters, with 2011 being the lone exception in the past 40
years. Here are the six most devastating defeats:

6. 1971: Game 2 vs.
Montreal Canadiens

On the heels of their 1970 Cup
victory, the Bruins were looking like a budding dynasty, recording
a league-best 121 points throughout the regular season and putting
themselves in the driver’s seat of what would surely be
another deep playoff run. Scoring 399 goals and possessing a
plus-192 goal differential during the season, Boston an easy pick
to toss Ken Dryden and the Habs aside like they were nothing.

But what instead happened would
go down in Montreal hockey lore as the greatest comeback and
perhaps greatest series of the Habs’ dynasty. As Boston blew
a 5-1 lead in Game 2, B’s draft pick Dryden proved to be
among the league’s budding best, sending the Bruins packing
in what would prevent the club’s ability to win three
straight Cups.

5. 1990: Game 1 vs.
Edmonton Oilers

The Boston Bruins were (once
again) going up against an undeniable hockey giant in their Stanley
Cup meeting with the Edmonton Oilers in 1990. But as David took on
Goliath, the Black and Gold showed the ability to keep up with the
Oilers’ high-flying attack in Game 1 in what would end as the
longest game in Stanley Cup Final history, lasting nearly four
overtimes.

But it would be the
Bruins’ inability to bury their chances against
Edmonton’s Bill Ranford — namely defenseman Glen
Wesley’s complete whiff on an open net — that paved the
way for heartbreak as Petr Klima struck in the third overtime,
setting the tone in what would be a five-game series win for
Edmonton’s fifth Cup, and second over Boston.

4. 2010: Game 7 vs.
Philadelphia Flyers

It’s never a good thing
where your forward core is a mix of fringe NHLers and aging vets,
but that’s where the B’s were by the end of their
second-round series with the Philadelphia Flyers. Trying to survive
a 3-0 series edge that became 3-3 with Game 7 in Boston, a quick
three goals against the Flyers’ Michael Leighton had
B’s fans seeing a conference final against Montreal from
their seats.

But little by little, the Flyers
clawed their way back into things. And then, with one swift boom,
Simon Gagne beat Tuukka Rask for the Flyers’ fourth goal of
the night, and fourth win of the series. It’s still the
reason for 30 percent of all PTSD cases among Bruins fans, and why
you run the risk of being punched in the head if you ever declare a
game or series over.

3. 2009: Game 7 vs.
Carolina Hurricanes

The best team in the East
throughout the regular season — and outscoring the
Carolina Hurricanes 18 to 6 — the Bruins’ second-round
matchup with the Canes should not have been as close as it was. In
a Game 7 at the Garden, things seemed to be returning to the norm
when folk-hero Byron Bitz scored the first goal of the night seven
minutes in.

Carolina would respond with two
straight goals, and while the B’s forced overtime behind a
late goal from Lucic, Scott Walker, who suckerpunched Aaron Ward
two games prior, played the role of villain once more as he scored
off a rebound with the B’s just 1:14 away from forcing a
second overtime. “He should’ve been suspended!”
everyone screamed, then cried.

2. 1979: Game 7 vs.
Montreal Canadiens

Victimized by the Montreal
Canadiens dynasty of the 1970s, the Boston Bruins were finally set
to complete the upset in a home-favored semifinals series against
the hated Habs. In a series where the home teams dominated the
first six games, Don Cherry’s Boston squad came to Montreal
for a must-win Game 7 and against the odds, looked to be on the
cusp of ousting the team that ousted them for the Stanley Cup the
previous two years.

Taking a lead behind a Rick
Middleton goal with mere minutes to go, the Bruins were punished by
the Habs’ power play following a fabled too-many-men penalty,
and were eliminated with one Yvon Lambert overtime marker. It was a
loss that put an end to the “Lunch Pail” era of Don
Cherry and B’s hockey.

1. 2013: Game 6 vs.
Chicago Blackhawks

It was do-or-die for the Stanley
Cup on Boston ice, a situation the Bruins were familiar with just
two years prior, when they chased Roberto “Easy Save”
Luongo in the first period en route to a 5-2 win. Entering play
with a 4-0 record in must-win Game 6’s under Claude Julien,
the odds were in the Bruins’ favor. Kicking the night off
with a goal from Chris Kelly, a brain cramp from the B’s in
the second period put Jonathan Toews and the Hawks on the board,
but a third-period goal from Milan Lucic looked to give Boston
enough to send this one back to Chicago.

But in a span of 17 seconds with
under a minute and a half to go, Chicago struck with goals from
Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland, and the Blackhawks lifted the Cup
on Boston ice after a 3-2 win.

This article originally appeared in the July 2013 issue of
New England Hockey Journal.